To me, Dammers was the Lennon and McCartney of ska, one of the most important voices of the postpunk movement, a man who always appeared to be carrying his generation's hopes and dreams on his. And the faster I started to walk, the slower I became. We wanted to play 2,000 to 3,000-sized venues. Jerry David Hounsell Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India in May 1955. Lonely Library feat. Jerry Dammers. He sought refuge in a (black) neighbours house, who promptly called out to the gang chasing him, who ran in and kicked the living daylights out of him. Read those below. That honesty is heard in so many of his songs in joy and sorrow. Terrys voice was the perfect instrument for the true and necessary songs on 'The Specials.' The ghost town is theirs to haunt., When I think about Ghost Town I think about Coventry, said the bands drummer, John Bradbury, who grew up in the city. I don't know how they did it but it was amazing to see.". They were approved. One policeman said it looked like World War III. This was urban decay writ large, accompanied by a kick drum and a muted horn. Just over 30 years ago, in March 1984, Jerry Dammers released Free Nelson Mandela with his band the Special AKA, and this straightforward, cheerful but angry demand for the release of South Africa's most celebrated political prisoner became a top 10 hit in the UK, a bestseller across Europe and a no 1 in New Zealand. On Tuesdays doing the door at a West End nightclub (where essentially you let in your friends for free and drank the profits) and on Wednesdays waking up with enough time to sign on. That year, 28 September was a Saturday and having just come back from a trip abroad, I had spent the whole day indoors, transcribing tapes, writing, listening to music and cleaning the flat, not bothering to go outside for a paper or turn on the radio or TV. Thatcher had a habit of invoking the pernicious legacy of the so-called permissive society whenever she was confronted with something she didnt understand. However, Dammers issued a statement in December denying this, claiming that The Specials had driven him out of the planned reunion. But, compelled by the inactivity around me, I took the long way, turning right instead of left, striding along Regent Street on my way down to Piccadilly Circus, where I was going to dart right, along Piccadilly itself, and stroll home via Hyde Park Corner. He also founded 2 Tone Records. Hall has now reacted to Dammers claims, saying he was involved in initial plans for the reunion and said he has no idea why he didnt want to be part of the band. Gentrification eventually came to Brixton, inadvertently moving it upmarket not by much, but by enough. [5][6][7] It was the 12th-best-selling single in the UK in 1981. Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. The Mandalorian season three first look review: Baby Yodas back, Mae Stephens colourful funk-pop sound is transcending TikTok, Shania Twain: Im probably most proud of not giving up on my voice, Final Fantasy 16 is a lavish RPG twist on Bayonetta and its all the better for it. Jeffrey - Hilversum, Netherlands. Join Facebook to connect with Jerry Dammers and others you may know. Amongthe others who have shared kind words and remembrances: Belinda Carlisle,Boy George, Rage Against the Machine,Dexy's Midnight Runners, Billy Bragg,Squeeze's Chris Difford, The Sleaford Mods, Ted Leo, Rancid, The Interrupters, Lush's Miki Berenyi, Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley, Everything But the Girl'sTracey Thorn, Less Than Jake,The Brian Jonestown Massacre's Anton Newcombe,Matt Sharp (Weezer, The Rentals), Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Beak>),The Charlatans' Tim Burgess, former Cure member Lol Tolhurst, The Mountain Goats, Michael McKean, Jon Cryer, Sparks, Mark McGrath, Frank Turner, Catbite, Shepard Fairey, director Tim Pope,and more. They're the backbone of a reggae song. And if you looked carefully, you would have seen that The Specials were back too, churning out the old hits as though they were a human jukebox. And I was thinking why doesn't anyone produce something equally as strong for Assange today? He was an integral part of the Specials re-forming in 2008, and [he] toured with them extensively up to the present day. Oct 18 2019. Ghost Town epitomised the two-tone idea that black and white can operate in the same unit and speak to the youth. For me and for so many others at the time, my support network was the black economy, acting as a cocktail barman at Brixtons chi-chi nightclub The Fridge one minute and bunking the tube the next. Dammers was the creative genius behind The Specials, the man who gave them their idiosyncratic musical tropes and who set them apart from the likes of The Selector, The Beat or Bad Manners. Works . They were greeted with open arms by the critics and public alike, only they werent really The Specials at all, because the most important member, Jerry Dammers, the man who invented them, who gave the band their political edge, who wrote most of their songs and who was responsible for making them truly memorable, was not encouraged to participate in the reunion (I founded The Specials and now they've excluded me, said Dammers when the band first reunited, in 2008). Bradbury joined The Specials in 1979, and continued with The Special AKA. However, the song was hailed by the contemporary UK music press as a major piece of popular social commentary,[3][4] and all three of the major UK music magazines of the time awarded "Ghost Town" the accolade of "Single of the Year" for 1981. View the profiles of people named Jerry Dammers. I was thinking about Ghost Town the other day as I walked home, lost in reverie, but oh-so-aware of everything around me. They were gigs, after all. Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of a clergyman who went on to become Dean of Bristol . As we eventually moved out shipping out to Shepherds Bush, in West London so others took our place and a gentrification of sorts did occur, the kind that increasingly appealed to those who couldnt afford to get onto the housing ladder anywhere else. Jerry Dammers, founder of The Specials and 2 Tone Records A special 40th anniversary Two Tone Records seven-inch box set that features 12 iconic singles released on the label and an art card signed by Jerry Dammers. I remember Lynval rushing into the control room while they were doing it going, 'No, no, no, it sounds wrong! It was easier for her to stand back, aghast. "I never expected anything like this when I wrote the song," Dammers said. Apart from penning the song, Dammers also stopped seeing this "friend" - an approach echoed in the song's chorus: "If you have a racist friend/ Now is the time, now is the time/ For your friendship to end." But for Dammers, who confesses he is "not a confrontational person", the song was substitute for a . "It was inspired by what we saw touring," recalls The Specials' founder and song writer Jerry Dammers . Here are the possible solutions for "The ____, English ska revival band founded in 1977 by Jerry Dammers" clue. The Specials are due to play a series of 30th anniversary gigs in the spring of 2009, with the tour being billed as a full reunion. And so you started treating the place with the same disdain; what was the point of throwing an empty cigarette packet in a bin if the bin was going to be thrown through the off-licence window later in the day? And, unlike Orpheus, without looking back. Contemporaneous reviews identified the song's impact as an "instant musical editorial" on recent events (the 1981 England riots). and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. Jerry Dammers - Biography Biography Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of a clergyman who went on to become Dean of Bristol Cathedral, he attended King Henry VIII School, Coventry. Not only that, but they came from Coventry, Britains very own answer to Detroit, the epitome of the post-war urban wasteland, the quintessential concrete jungle, and felt they had a right to bleat about anything they wanted to, especially the determined onslaught of Thatcherism. "He'd say, run the checkerboard pattern right across, move this figure . In South London, conflict gave an edge to every transaction in a corner shop, every late-night walk home from the Underground. [25], "17 rock-reggae crossovers that work and three that don't", "Ghost Town: The song that defined an era turns 30", "The Official Top 50 best-selling songs of 1981", The Specials: How Ghost Town defined an era, "Ghost Town - The Specials | Listen, Appearances, Song Review", "The Specials 'Ghost Town' Classic Tracks", "Ghost Town/Why?/Friday Night Saturday Morning", "The Specials' 'Ghost Town' Finds New Life Amid U.K. Lockdown", "2 Tone Records - Ghost Town - CHS TT12 17", "2 Tone Records - Ghost Town (revisited) - CHS TT30", "Specials, The / Special Productions - Ghost Town Revisited (Vinyl) at Discogs", The Irish Charts Search Results Ghost Town", A page about the single on a 2 Tone Records fansite, An interview about the song with John Collins, the producer, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghost_Town_(The_Specials_song)&oldid=1137864343, "Ghost Dub '91" (credited to 'Special Productions'), "Ghost Dub '91 (Version)" (credited to 'Special Productions'), This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 20:58. And hes missing out on that, and its sad for him, to be honest.. It was clear that something was very, very wrong."[4]. Quotation Biography. She was, though, when she claimed that money couldnt buy either trust or racial harmony. I can remember walking out of a rehearsal in total despair because Neville would not try the ideas. However, overdubbing the flute nearly killed me because it was not on a free track. Once and for all. I spoke to him for this article a few days ago and he is as disconcerted by the current crisis as all of us. In our world, the economy was driven by nightclubs, as this was a completely cash economy. I looked through the vast, seven-foot-wide venetian blind that faced the street and I saw dozens of local residents almost exclusively young black men running by my window carrying record players, televisions, CD players, radios, amplifiers, microwaves, small fridges, speaker systems, anything they could carry. Hes fucking missing out. I dont think he likes the idea of touring, to be honest. The 1980s riots were devoured so much by the international media that the burning oil drum became as much a part of modern British iconography as the white suits in the 1981 television adaptation of Evelyn Waughs Brideshead Revisited and for a while seemed to appear in any film about the British underclass, surrounded by a gang of Rada-trained professional cockneys and a smattering of generic gangsters, drug dealers and punky fishnets molls. Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. Published Dec 10, 2008. I was friends with Brad and the two of us shared a house some time before the Specials . To the outside world it looked as though rioting was what any youth cult worth their salt did when theyd grown tired of posing for style magazines or making bad pop records. More importantly, it was heard in South Africa where it was banned but became an anthem in the fight against apartheid. Real name Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers Born May 22, 1955 Country United Kingdom IPI . Musician and arranger Delia Derbyshire, who died in 2001 and musician Ray King were also honoured with plaques. He was highly intelligent, had a very mischievous sense of humour which could be very funny, and he played the drums with an incredible amount of energy which was a very important part of the Specials sound and live shows. These were domestic experiences, the kind that visitors to the UK just wouldnt understand. Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers, musicians with the New Wave/Ska band The Specials, are shown seated behind a microphone, wearing suits. And its sense of melancholy spoke clearly: there was the sus laws [the informal term for the stop and search law that enabled the police to stop, search andpotentially arrest suspects], inner cities not functioning, racism dividing the working class. People at the time would pay good money to see bands they enjoyed in their youth, sometimes regardless of how many original members they contained. Contrary to some of what has been reported since, Terry and I got on well in the original Specials. The resulting report into the riots concluded that they were due to complex political, social and economic factors that had created a disposition towards violent protest due to racial disadvantage, inner-city struggles and the attrition between the local communities and the police. Member of The Specials Buy. Yes, there was a royal wedding, in sharp juxtaposition to inner-city decay, a wedding that would produce a genuine royal superstar, yet the riots the worst for a century would resonate throughout the country for years. "[21] The song created resentment in Coventry where residents angrily rejected the characterisation of the city as a town in decline. The Guardian cites a statement released by the bands spokesperson praised the musicians influence on the 2 Tone scene. Especially as she was the one who had withdrawn them. Dammers said, "People weren't cooperating. First we lose Lemmy, now news that Brad from the Specials has passed away. is a plea for racial tolerance and was written by guitarist Lynval Golding in response to a violent racist attack he had suffered in July 1980 outside the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead in London, which had left him hospitalised with broken ribs. 5th September 2015. The New Rock Revolution what happened next? "Ghost Town" is a song by the British two-tone band the Specials, released on 12 June 1981. The fact that it became popular when it did was just a weird coincidence. The man who wrote it wasnt there. Cars blazing, people running everywhere, while another said it was like Beirut, not London. The riots themselves felt contemporary and weirdly particular. Refrigerators, dryers, you name it, said one observer. I even saw one lady hold up a piece of carpet and ask if anyone knew whether it was 6ft by 4ft.. There was fighting at our gigs; there were lots of National Front people around. All of a sudden the country appeared to be spiralling into an endless cycle of violence, framing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the villain. He is known for establishing 2 Tone Records and his amazing skills on turntables and consoles. Ghost Town was obviously referencing the situation. You couldn't quite believe that things would ever return to normal, what with the broken glass, the boarded-up windows, the dozens of overturned cars, the smoke billowing from the shops in the market like some trashy post-apocalyptic movie. His initial music influences were 60's . Photograph: Jo Wiser, ANC's glory fades as South Africa's 'born free' generation votes, 'I'm more mature than South African democracy itself', Theborn free generation: 20-year-olds in South Africa prepare for first vote video, Jerry Dammers: how I made Free Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: the triumph of the protest song. With all his DJing work cancelled for the time being, he is wisely using this period to try to finalise output hes been tinkering with for years. Club owners, club runners, DJs, bands, doormen, barmen, waitresses, bouncers and obviously the drug dealers. He left India at the age of 2, first living in Coventry, then moving to Sheffield at the age of 10. As I walked south, I may as well have been self-isolating, because I was completely, completely alone. That summed it up for me. The looters concentrated on the electrical shops, on the ghetto blasters, television sets and radios. Bristol Beacon. The band announced the news of Bradburys death via Twitter earlier today [December 29, 2015]. In the days after the first riot, Brixton was a binary postcode: furious and violent at night and completely empty and silent during the day. When Mrs Thatcher first arrived in Downing Street in 1979, there were many who thought she would become as much a prisoner of the Whitehall machine as her predecessor, Edward Heath, yet she quickly used abrasiveness to slap down the mandarins. The Specials ' founder Jerry Dammers has revealed to Uncut that he recorded new Specials material with original members Horace Painter and Lynval Golding in 2003. His father (Horace) became Dean of Bristol Cathedral. His contribution to the world of music can not be understated and he will much missed by family, friends and fans alike.. He also founded 2 Tone Records. It is arguably one of the most effective political songs in pop history. At the time, as far as music was concerned, there was nothing quite so au courant as nostalgia. In an interview in 2011, Dammers explained how witnessing this event inspired his composition: The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom. Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of Horace Dammers who was later Dean of Bristol Cathedral from 1973 to 1987. The same applied to the brass: John [Rivers] put one mic in the middle of the room, placed Dick [Cuthell] and Rico [Rodriguez] in diagonal corners, and when we listened in the control room it sounded great. She gives the civil servants hell, said one observer soon after she became prime minister. 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